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Mobile Suit Gundam: THE ORIGIN (機動戦士ガンダム：THE ORIGIN in Japanese) is a manga adaptation of the television anime series Mobile Suit Gundam written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the original series' character designer. This is the third direct manga adaptation of the TV series.

The series was first serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace in Japan beginning in 2002 and has since been collected in (as of now) 13 tankoubon volumes. Both are published by Kadokawa Publishing under their Kadokawa Comics A imprint. Viz Comics, in America, attempted to translate the series and publish it in America (interestingly in a quarterly, perfect-bound magazine-sized format), although low sales very quickly ended the American run. It should be noted that although there were 12 volumes of the English translation released, they do not correspond with the Japanese volumes. The English volumes, with an average length between 100-130 pages were about half of that of the equivalent Japanese tankoubon which ran anywhere between 200-270. The length varied as some contained just four chapters, some contained an additional "special" shorter side story, and others contained a full five chapters. The reason for this could be that the Japanese serialization focused on keeping distinct chapters. As a result, the English serialization ended up having a higher price point than its Japanese equivalent with only roughly half of the content. The English translation stops near the end of volume six in the Japanese version.

1.始動編 Activation
2.激闘編 Fierce Fighting
3.ガルマ編・前 Garma (Beginning)
4.ガルマ編・後 Garma (End)
5.ランバ・ラル編・前 Ramba Ral (Beginning)
6.ランバ・ラル編・後 Ramba Ral (End)
7.ジャブロー編・前 Jaburo (Beginning)
8.ジャブロー編・後 Jaburo (End)
9. シャア・セイラ編・前 Char, Sayla (Beginning)
10.シャア・セイラ編・後 Char, Sayla (End)
11.開戦編・前 Starting a War (Beginning)
12.開戦編・後 Starting a War (End)
13.ルウム編・前 Loum (Beginning)
14. ルウム編・後 Loum (End)

• Current as of February 2007.

The plot of the manga follows somewhat closely the plot of the original series. It is the year Universal Century 0079, and the eighth month of a vicious war between the Earth Federation and a breakaway nation of space colonists, the Principality of Zeon. The story follows the crew of the ship White Base, as they fight to ferry the experimental RX-78 Gundam mobile suit to the Federation base at Jaburo.

Although for the most part faithful to the original series' plot (all of the major events unfold in mostly the same manner as the TV series, though often in different locales), Yasuhiko has taken the liberty of changing certain elements in the series universe, giving a different character to the series and the struggle that unfolds. Primary among these is the presence of mobile suits in both militaries well before the conflict begins -- in fact, in the flashback sequences, both the Federation and Zeon militaries use Guntanks in 0068, and they and the Guncannon mobile suit are described as "obsolete" and fit for target practice in the first volume (in the TV series proper, both units were as new as the Gundam itself, designed to serve as long and mid-range fire support units).

Other differences concern the breadth of the Gundam's journey to Jaburo. Where it's implied that the White Base's journey to Jaburo in the series was pretty much a circumnavigation of the globe unconnected to many real-world locations, Yasuhiko's journey places the White Base's landfall near Los Angeles, the headquarters of Garma Zabi (in the series, Garma was based out of a generic "New Yark" -- Origin in fact states the Zeon occupation HQ as Los Angeles City Hall, with Garma residing in Hollywood/Beverly Hills) and moves the craft steadily to the southeast, and down the South American coast -- past Caracas, Venezuela and through Macchu Picchu and into Brazil, where Jaburo is located. This retelling cuts out some of the more trivial encounters seen in the original series, while keeping and expanding on important characters like Garma, Ramba Ral, and the Black Tri-Stars.

Yasuhiko further finally tells the entire back story of the Gundam universe in the manga. After the successful defense of Jaburo, the story diverts into a very in-depth flashback, told primarily from the viewpoints of Sayla and Char (with a secondary thread being told from Amuro's POV) recounting the downfall of Zeon Zum Deikun, the rise of the Zabi family, the construction of Side 7 and the research into Mobile Suits, and leading up through a decade until the launching of the One Year War. It also goes into detail answering many previously unanswered questions such as what the appearance of heretofore unseen Zeon mobile suits prior to the MS-05 Zaku I, how Dozle Zabi received his trademark scars and even the origin of Edward Mass' "Char Aznable" identity. The canon status of these revelations is still a matter of debate. Volume thirteen, the most recent tankoubon serialization, deals with the Battle of Loum at the beginning of the One Year War, still part of the in-depth flashback.